A Little on the Lonely Side
by DonJohn23
Summary: AU - Nicky Duval is a lonely little boy, picked on at school and without any brothers or sisters to play with at home. What he really needs is a friend.
1. Chapter 1

Nicky pushed a lock of his dark hair out of his eyes, trying to concentrate on where to put his foot next. This particular tree was one of the hardest, and one of the tallest, that he'd ever tried to climb before and he really didn't want to slip and fall. Glancing down, he realised he could see nearly the entire playground from his position and made himself focus on pulling up just a little higher so he could see all of it.

With a small grunt of exertion, Nicky clambered up onto the next branch and sat swinging his legs in their shorts, looking around from his perch high above everyone else. He smiled to himself, waving to his mummy to make sure she knew he was ok, and holding on tighter to the branch he was sitting on when he saw how nervous she looked.

Nicky knew he was safe where he was, he was the best tree climber that he knew, and being high up in trees was the only time Nicky really got to think. He may only have been six years old, but Nicky thought about all kinds of things.

He thought about being smaller than most of the other boys at school, and he thought about how they didn't really seem to like him much. Nicky thought about how sad his parents had looked when he'd asked about getting a brother, maybe, someday, and how they'd explained that that wasn't going to happen, and he'd make friends soon enough. Nicky had thought that he'd make friends through joining the choir at his school, but the girls just ignored him and the boys thought he was even more stupid for wanting to sing.

Nicky rubbed the back of his neck where the spitball had hit him as he left for his singing lesson during class earlier in the day, and nearly lost his grip on the rough bark of the tree. He looked around, suddenly realising how high he actually was, and turned to climb back down, feeling out with his feet for each branch until he reached the last one before the ground. He sat down, then slipped so he was dangling from it, swinging slightly and singing under his breath.

Nicky finished the last verse of 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight?' and dropped down onto the grass, landing neatly and managing not to fall forward onto his hands and knees like last time. Those grazes had hurt for days, and his mummy had been kind of cross at the stains on his shorts. Nicky turned around and gasped, coming face to face with a boy with the blondest hair he'd ever, ever seen.

The blond boy's eyes are fixed on Nicky's and it's a moment before either of them speak.

"You're really good at singing," says the blond boy, his face breaking into a grin, "that's from The Lion King, right? I love The Lion King! Timon and Pumbaa are the best ever!"

Nicky blinks, letting the boy's chatter wash over him, unable to think of anything to say. He always gets kinda shy when he's meeting people, and for a moment he wishes he was back up in the tree, high up out of the way of everything. It's a couple of seconds before he realises the boy's stopped talking and is now looking at him curiously.

"Weren't you scared? Up in the tree I mean?"

The blond boy is peering up through the branches, then looking back at Nicky, his brown eyes wide and curious.

Nicky shakes his head, smiling a little.

"Not really... I like being high up, and I'm a pretty good climber too so..." He trails off, the blond boy grinning even wider than before, and Nicky thinks that maybe this boy actually likes him, might actually want to be his friend.

"That's so awesome. You really are a good singer too."

Nicky's confused. Only his mummy and his singing teacher have told him that before, and he can't quite work out if the boy's joking, and is going to laugh at him and run away the moment Nicky says something else. He decides to try anyway.

"Thank you..." he smiles at the boy, "I... I like singing, singing's fun."The blond boy is nodding enthusiastically, and he opens his mouth to start talking again, but Nicky cuts across him before he can start. "I'm Nicky."

The blond boy grins again.

"JJ."

Suddenly, Nicky's on the ground, being hugged ferociously by the other boy. He wriggles out from under him and stands looking down at JJ and brushing down his blue t-shirt. JJ's looking back up at him, his hair a mess and his face the picture of confusion.

"What was that?" Nicky frowns, flicking a clump of grass off his arm and glancing over to make sure his mummy didn't see him fall.

"I was hugging you... Do you... don't you like hugs?" JJ asks, sounding a little crestfallen and looking down and at his dusty legs, fingers playing with the Velcro on the straps of his sandals. Nicky can't help but feel bad, he didn't mean to make JJ upset.

"I do like hugs, I do, but... you knocked me down and it just made me think of the boys at school tripping me up and..." Nicky falls silent, noticing the look on JJ's face as he stands and opens his arms, his eyes once more on Nicky's. Nicky steps forward and lets JJ hug him, only hesitating briefly before hugging him back, smiling.

"The boys at school that knock you down are stupid, k? I'll be your friend now."

Nicky tightens his arms around JJ, and they hug for a little while longer, two little boys, one dark, one fair, one in a blue t-shirt, and one in pink, standing against the world.


	2. Chapter 2

It's a few weeks later and the two boys are tucked up under a blanket watching Aladdin. Nicky didn't used to like it that much, but it's JJ's absolute _favourite_ and he actually kinda likes it now. Nicky doesn't care what they watch really, he just likes that he's watching something with a friend. JJ's bobbing his head along with the music and Nicky giggles quietly, pulling the blanket up to his nose to try to muffle it a little bit more.

It doesn't work and JJ hears him and grins and before he knows it, Nicky's pulled up onto his feet and they're dancing and singing along to A Whole New World. They both know all the words, Nicky singing Aladdin's part and JJ singing Jasmine's as they rush around Nicky's bedroom pretending to fly on a magic carpet.

Nicky's surprised how much more fun it is to sing with someone else, and JJ's as good at singing as he is, the two of them bouncing on the bed, JJ circling round him with the blanket until they're both entirely tangled in it and they fall with a bump onto the floor, just about managing to get out the last few words of the song.

The TV clicks off, and JJ's suddenly very quiet and very close and Nicky feels just a tiny bit nervous.

"You and me. Because I'm your best friend, right?" Nicky asks quietly, and although he's pretty sure of the answer, he just wants to make absolutely sure that they're friends, that this isn't something he's made up in his head and JJ's not really his friend at all.

JJ nods solemnly, blond hair falling in front of his eyes as he tugs at the blanket wrapped around Nicky, eventually freeing him. They sit for a little while, just looking at each other, JJ taking in Nicky's dark hair, that little flick at the back that always seems to escape his mummy's attempts to keep him neat and tidy, the bruises across the skin of his shins where the boys at school trip him up. JJ wishes he could stop them but he knows that he can't.

Nicky is the one to break the comfortable silence as he nudges JJ, snapping him out of his daydream.

"Why is Aladdin your favourite? I mean, I thought you liked Timon and Pumbaa the best."

JJ bites his lip as he considers his answer for a little bit, fingers fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt before he starts to speak.

"I do like Timon and Pumbaa the best of everything, but I really like how, in Aladdin, he has all these... big dreams and it doesn't matter than he's kinda poor and that it's all in his head because he absolutely knows he'll get them." JJ hesitates, looking at Nicky, then starts speaking again, "Then there's this... genie, this awesome guy who's his best friend ever and he's magical and he makes everything Aladdin ever wanted come true and then Aladdin does the perfect thing and sets him free because they're best, best friends and... and no one wants their best friend to be sad and trapped..."

Nicky's looking at JJ like he's never seen him before. He seems so wise, so grown up for a six year old, to know all of that about a cartoon that Nicky only really watched for Abu the monkey, before him and JJ were friends anyway. He's suddenly very glad that his mummy said JJ could stay over because all he wants to do is watch Aladdin over, and over and over and over again until he knows every word. Even though he doesn't quite understand why JJ loves the genie so much, that's exactly what they do, curled up on the sofa until they fall asleep.

When Nicky wakes up the next day, he's curled up in his bed, the sheets pulled up almost over his head. His daddy must have found him asleep on the sofa and carried him into bed. Nicky smiles, and snuggles a little closer to the pillow he has his arms wrapped around, before realising that the pillow's wriggling back at him.

He blinks, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes, starting back when he sees that it's _JJ_ he has his arms tight around, his front pressed against JJ's back. JJ's giggling as he wriggles backwards, edging Nicky closer and closer to the side of the bed until he's pressed up against the wall, trapped between the blue wallpaper and JJ's pink pyjamas.

Nicky grins and is unable to stop himself laughing as JJ collapses in a fit of giggles on the bed, rolling around and clutching his stomach, his blond hair messy from sleep. JJ eventually stops and sprawls back out across the sheets, looking up at Nicky where he sits against the wall with the blankets pulled up over him.

"Let's stay like this forever, k?"

Nicky nods, but he knows that the weekend's nearly over, and soon he'll have to go back to school, back to sitting alone in the classes they don't share, back to trying to avoid the other boys at recess and lunchtime.

Suddenly JJ's hand is in his, and they're running down the stairs for breakfast, all thoughts of school banished from Nicky's head. After all, they've still got a whole Sunday to play.


	3. Chapter 3

The room is filled with the sound of plastic crashing over plastic as JJ rummages through the box of Lego pieces standing at the foot of Nicky's bed, searching for the other half of the wing tip from the plane that they're trying rather successfully to reconstruct without the instructions.

Nicky clicks a few blocks together, pressing them tight to make sure they're extra connected, and then attaches them to the base, happily wheeling them around a little.

"I finished the passenger stairs, JJ!" Nicky calls, turning to look at the blond boy as he digs deeper into the box. Nicky _has_ got a lot of Lego but it's taking JJ absolutely ages to find the part that they need, and it _is_ the final piece of the plane left to connect. He abandons the wheeled stairs on the craft table and comes over to look into the box with JJ, spotting the white wing tip almost immediately and pulling it out.

JJ sticks his tongue out at Nicky, but he's grinning as he goes back to hunting back through the box, now apparently looking for passengers and crew to populate the plane. Nicky finishes the plane off, then picks it up and makes it fly through the air in front of him, grinning to himself as it shudders and plummets toward the table before swooping back up. Just as he puts it back amongst the debris of Lego parts not deemed good enough, he feels the sharp sting of something hitting the back of his neck.

He spins round to find JJ right behind him somehow, snapping a shark's mouth at his nose.

"Om nom nom, Imma BITE YOU" JJ giggles, closing the shark's plastic teeth gently around Nicky's nose, then running away back to the box of Lego, almost falling over laughing when he turns back to see it still attached to the tip of Nicky's nose. He stops laughing though, when Nicky pulls the shark off his nose and starts toward him, frowning.

"No! Nonono!" JJ laughs, scrambling backwards away from Nicky until he trips and falls into the box of Lego, legs sticking up absurdly over the blue plastic edge of the crate. Nicky's laughing too now, padding over to help him out of the box but stopping before he gets there, JJ managing to tip not only himself out of the box, but also to pull the box over with him. There's a crash as the small plastic pieces spill out across the floor, a crash loud enough to be heard downstairs where Nicky's mummy is baking.

A tiny rubber wheel bumps against the door of Nicky's room just before it opens, his mummy looking concerned as she sees the Lego pieces spread out across the floor.

"What happened Nicky? Why are your blocks all over the carpet?" She asks, looking down at the dark haired boy kicking at a Lego man with his toe.

Nicky rolls his eyes before replying "They're not blocks, Mommy, they're Legos. I was..." he trails off as he turns to JJ for help explaining and realises he's not there. Nicky scans the whole room quickly, then turns back to his mummy. "I knocked the box over when I was looking for something. I'm sorry Mommy"

His mummy nods, "Well, make sure you pick them all up, ok Nicky?" she says, before going back downstairs, shutting the door behind her.

Nicky wheels round in confusion, looking for JJ. There's a small noise, then his wardrobe door opens and the blond boy peeps out.

"Is she gone?" he whispers, glancing from Nicky to the door.

Nicky nods and watches JJ in confusion as he slowly opens the door of the wardrobe and steps out cautiously. They both stand in silence for a moment before Nicky kneels down and starts to scoop the Lego back into the box, almost finishing before either of them speaks again.

"Sorry I hid." JJ's mumbling, talking more to the floor than to Nicky, "I thought she might be mad. Mad parents are scary."

Nicky doesn't know what to say, his mummy's never scary, he's never even _seen_ her mad, so he doesn't say anything at all, just shuffles closer to JJ and hugs him gently.


	4. Chapter 4

"Peanut butter? Bleh, no thanks" says JJ wrinkling his nose at the sandwich Nicky's holding out to him. "Peanut butter's worse than anything 'cept maybe sweetcorn."

Nicky giggles then bites into his sandwich, chewing carefully for a few seconds, "But you wouldn't have a sweetcorn sandwich would you?"

At that JJ sprays a mouthful of chips from his mouth, giggling and coughing, the image of a sweetcorn sandwich entirely hilarious to him. Nicky thumps him on the back like his daddy always does when he's choking and waits until JJ's face returns to its normal colour before going back to eating his sandwich and watching the other kids play.

They sit and eat their lunches for a while, JJ refusing to swap any of his snacks, much to Nicky's annoyance, because JJ's lunch is "Awesomesauce and you're not gonna mess it up with your... carrots." When they've both finished, Nicky gathers up all of their rubbish and heads to the bin, leaving JJ to look after his stuff. He dodges through the game of soccer that seems to be taking up the whole of the playground and dumps the mess of wrappers and paper bags into the bin, then turns to wave to JJ.

JJ waves back, his legs swinging and his toes in their pale pink converse barely touching the ground from where he sits up on the bench at the edge of the grass. Nicky starts to head back over to him so that they can go play, but he barely takes ten steps before tripping and falling to the ground, grazing his knees. He can feel the burn of the scratches even through his jeans and starts to get up before being pushed back down again.

Two feet, clad in black Hi-top sneakers, step into his vision and he looks up at Connor O'Hare, the biggest boy in his class, both in height and in width, and the biggest bully Nicky knows.

"Hey wimp. You tripped. Better get up before you fall again."

Nicky hesitates. That doesn't even make sense. How can he trip if he's on the ground? Connor sees Nicky freeze, and two of his friends pull Nicky up onto his feet before pushing him down again. Nicky whimpers without meaning to as he falls heavily onto his already bruised, and probably bleeding, knees.

"What was that wimp? Were you singing again? You're such a girl."

Nicky's not looking up at him and is instead choosing just to focus on the floor and wait until it's over like before, or hope that someone sees and runs to get the teacher. JJ's running feet come into view and stop right behind Connor's.

"Leave him alone."

That's JJ's voice. Nicky closes his eyes, waiting for Connor to turn on JJ, a tiny part of him wishing him to so that Nicky can get up and run away but mostly he's just wishing that JJ had stayed over on the bench so that he doesn't get hurt.

Connor doesn't even acknowledge JJ's presence, just leans down and calls Nicky a sissy before stepping hard on his hand as he walks away, laughing with his friends. Nicky stands and walks back over to the bench with his bag on it, JJ following behind him in silence.

"Is your hand ok? He trod on it really bad..."

"It's fine."

Nicky tucks his legs up against his body and rests his arms on his knees, forgetting for a moment about the scrapes across his skin. He winces and rolls up his jeans to investigate how bad the cuts are, worrying at his bottom lip as he notices the tears in the fabric and how much blood there seems to be on the inside of the denim.

He hears JJ's sharp intake of breath when he sees the grazes, already bruising round the edges, blood smudged across his kneecaps.

"At least there's no dirt in them, it really hurts when you have dirt in them," JJ offers, leaning in to look a bit closer, prodding gently at the bruises, "and you'll have awesome scabs, it'll look like you had a fight with like, a tiger or something."

JJ grins up at him, and Nicky has to smile back, even if it's a little wobbly.

"Thanks for... y'know, trying to stop him..." Nicky says quietly, still studying his knees, and wondering how he's going to explain this to his mummy without her wanting to come into school and speak to the principal. Again. "It was super brave of you."

JJ shrugs and stands, holding out his hand for Nicky's. "You shouldn't listen to him. He's an idiot, half of the things he says, they don't even make sense." There's a pause while JJ waits for Nicky to pull his jeans back down and collect his bag. "Anyway, you're really good at singing." Nicky finally puts his good hand in JJ's and they walk together toward the school building, making it inside just as the bell goes for the end of lunch.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N – Thank you! I never thought people would actually like this and read it, let alone favourite it or add it to their alerts! You guys make my day, thank you! **

The boys clung desperately to the rigging as the stormy seas tossed their ship this way and that. The ocean spray stung their faces and made them shiver in their already soaked through clothes. Captain JJ the Awesome yelled something that Nicky couldn't hear above the roar of the sea and then lunged toward the helm. His fingers barely brushed the wood before a gigantic wave smashed into the ship, washing him overboard.

First-mate Nicky wound his fingers ever tighter into the rough rope of the rigging and looked out, frantically searching the surface of the tumultuous seas for any sign of his beloved Captain. Suddenly, with a splash and a yell, a blond head appeared in the waves, arms waving, and his captain's hat clutched tight in one hand.

Nicky braced himself as another wave crashed over him, then scrambled over to the side of the ship, holding his arms out to JJ and managing to grab his skinny wrist before the next wave rocked the ship. As he nearly slipped overboard, Nicky was very glad he'd remembered to tie the rope from the mast around his middle, and he used all his strength to pull JJ out of the water.

JJ landed heavily on top of him, and it was all Nicky could do to drag himself and JJ's unconscious form to the bottom of the mast and tie them there securely before he blacked out too.

What seems like only seconds later, Nicky wakes sprawled out on the deck of the Hispaniola, wrapped tightly in a warm, white, fluffy fur coat. He can see his breath in the air above him, and when he sits up and looks around, everything he can see is pure and white. There's ice all around the ship, spreading out for miles to the port side, and huge great cliffs of it uncomfortably close to the starboard side.

Icicles clink where they hang from the sails as a breeze blows across the icy wasteland in front of him and Nicky pulls the coat tighter around him for warmth. There's no sign of Captain JJ anywhere, so Nicky climbs easily up to the crow's nest, despite the ice on the rigging making his fingers hurt with the cold. When he reaches the top, he finally turns to face the Stern of the ship, looking back they way they must have come, and gasps.

How he hadn't noticed it before Nicky doesn't know, but he's suddenly staring into a long, dark tunnel of ice, the end of which isn't even visible as it fades into pitch blackness. He's suddenly very aware of how quiet it is; the only sounds are the clinking of the icicles below him, and the sound of the ice cliffs to his left creaking ominously.

A large white bird swoops out of the darkness of the ice tunnel, squawking loudly and making Nicky jump. There's a yell, and Nicky looks down to see JJ waving happily up at him from the ice, gesturing for him to come down. He's dressed in a coat identical to Nicky's, and the moment Nicky reaches him, he pulls him into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're safe! The rest of the crew are gone!" JJ says dramatically.

"Gone? Gone where?"

"Eaten!"

"Eaten?"

"Eaten!"

"...Eaten by what?"

"Eaten by... Polar Bears!"

"Polar Bears?"

"Polar Bears!"

"Polar Bears! Oh no, what did you do?"

"I cornered them and demanded that they give up their coats so we could keep warm."

Nicky hesitates, looking down at his cuddly, warm coat. "That's not how coats work, JJ"

"Isn't it?" Nicky shakes his head. "Oh... well... These must have been MAGIC Polar Bears. Magic Polar Bears who eat crew members and then give you a coat."

Nicky nods, smiling. There's a loud crack behind them, and they both spin round in time to see a chunk of ice tumble down from the cliff and straight onto their ship, covering it almost entirely. The boys turn to face each other, mouths open in shock. Everything they owned was on that ship, as well as what little food and water they'd managed to save over the long journey.

There's a determined look on Captain JJ's face, and he places his hands on his First-Mate's shoulders to explain the plan forming in his mind.

"I have a plan forming in my mind Nicky. This is the plan."

There's a pause where they both look at each other.

"JJ, what's the pl- "

"The plan is simple! We walk that way –" JJ gestures out across the ice, "until we find food, shelter or we die horribly of frostbite and or are eaten by those mean old magic Polar Bears."

"That is an excellent plan."

The boys take each other's hands and head off across the glacial desert stretched out in front of them. Before long, night starts to fall and the winds pick up, buffeting the two intrepid pirates as they walk, their heads down against the blizzard forming around them. It's soon completely dark, the only light coming from the full moon above them, reflecting across the ice and snow, bathing everything in a boreal glow.

Nicky trips and lands face first in the snow, almost pulling JJ down with him, their hands practically frozen together. JJ tugs at Nicky's arm, but he doesn't move and JJ feels his heart sink as he drops to his knees and rolls his friend over. Nicky's face is unmoving, completely serene, his eyes closed, snowflakes caught on his eyelashes and his normally dark fringe almost white with snow.

JJ shakes his friend gently, then harder, gripping his shoulders. There's no sign of life from the smaller boy and JJ yells up into the dark sky, cursing the stars.

"Why? Why did you take him away?" JJ shakes Nicky once more, desperately trying to wake him before releasing his shoulders and flinging his arms in the air. "No! Nnnoooooooo!" He slumps across the still form of his First-Mate, shoulders shaking with sobs.

Nicky is the first to giggle, then they both are, and soon JJ's re-enacting his death cry until they're both weak from laughter, tears rolling down their grubby cheeks as they lean up against the trunk of the tree where they first met, almost a year ago.


	6. Chapter 6

It's completely dark. That kind of dark when it makes no difference at all to what you can see if your eyes are shut or not. This is the dark where the monsters live and breathe and steal into your veins the moment you let your guard down. It closes in on you and blocks your other senses, gagging you when you try to scream for help and filling your lungs with lead so that you can barely move.

The only sounds JJ can hear are his own shuddering breaths. He can feel them, ghosting over his bare legs from where his forehead is pressed to his knees, legs pulled up against his body as close as he can get them. His fingers dig into his shins as he senses something close to him move and he shivers, shifting away from whatever it is that's out there in the dark.

Something brushes against the back of his neck and JJ scrambles forward on his hands and knees, the hard floor bruising his skin as he crawls desperately away from the thing chasing him, from the whispers that he can barely hear but knows as sure as anything are about him. He has to get away.

A hand grasps his ankle and pulls him back, his chest slamming down hard as he loses his balance, burning as he's dragged across the floor, hands trying to find purchase on a floorboard, on a bump in the wood, on _anything_, just to save himself from the creature pulling him back. His hand touches something soft and suddenly there are fingers intertwining with his and pulling him up to his feet.

He throws his arms around his rescuer, hugging them tight, but they fade away before he can get a grip on them and he's left alone once more in the darkness. Someone whispers in his ear, and he jumps, turning toward the noise, trying to see what's out there but it's too dark, too black, he can't even make out his own body when he looks down at it.

JJ takes a step backwards and falls, crashing down onto his bare back, wincing in pain, and suddenly the hands are on him again, grabbing his arms and legs and holding him down, nails cutting painfully into his skin as he struggles against them. The whispers start again, and he still can't make out what they're saying, even though he can feel their lips almost pressed against his ears and the sensation of their breath, hot and wet on his skin, makes him freeze with fear.

Everything here is designed to scare, terrify, and make the bottom drop out of his stomach. He can hardly move now, partially because of the hands holding him down and partially because he knows exactly what comes next and he hasn't been this frightened in a long time.

A hand strikes his face out of nowhere and he cries out into the darkness and then he's hit again and again and again until there're tears tricking from the side of his eyes and down onto the floor and then the hands are gone as quickly as they arrived.

JJ curls his legs up against his bruising chest and lies like that in the darkness, waiting for his tears to subside. When he stretches out again, his feet collide with solid wall. He reaches out to the sides of him and his fingers brush against smooth wood panelling, the same just within reaching distance up from his head. He starts to panic. He's not tall, not even for an eight year old boy and that when he stretches out again the walls are definitely closer makes him panic more.

He tries to sit, his head smashing into the now far too near ceiling and drops back to the floor, pulling his legs up against his chest and screaming for help, screaming for anyone. No one ever comes when he's like this, when the walls are closing in on him and he's battered and bruised and begging to be let out.

The walls and the ceiling are pressing in on him, the air is getting harder and harder to breath and for a moment, JJ thinks that this is it. This is how it's all going to end for him. Trapped and alone, beaten and abandoned. He screams one final time.

Light floods his vision and his eyes fly open. He has to blink a few times before Nicky comes into focus, hand held out, kneeling on his bed in his pyjamas. JJ shakes his head to rid the last of the darkness from his mind, and puts his hand into Nicky's.


	7. Chapter 7

"If you were a Superhero, what would you be?" Nicky asks, looking up at JJ across the table.

"If I were a Superhero, I'd be a Superhero, dummy." JJ grins back at him, before going back to scrawling messily over the craft paper spread out across the table in front of him. They're making a comic, Nicky's doing the pictures, and JJ's meant to be doing the words, although Nicky can't read a single thing he's written so far.

"I meant what super_power_ would you have, stupid." Nicky colours carefully around the 'S' on the chest of the drawing of Superman he's doing while he waits for JJ to reply. "What would you be able to do?"

JJ's biting his lip while he thinks, frowning in concentration as he tries to make up his mind. He slumps forward onto the table in mock despair.

"I don't know! I can't choose, don't make me choose." He whines, forehead pressed against the table. He lifts his head up to look at Nicky, "What would you have?"

There's a smudge of black pen across JJ's forehead, and Nicky points it out to him, wrinkling his nose as JJ licks his fingers and scrubs at it. He waits until JJ's finished before answering him.

"I'd be able to go invisible."

"Why would you be able to – Oh." JJ's smile disappears as the penny drops, Nicky looking down at the table and tracing a finger over the colourful figure on the paper before him. "Know what I'd be?" JJ asks quickly, trying to distract Nicky. Nicky shakes his head. "I'd be super-fast, like Dash off of The Incredibles. 'Cause then I'd be able to do this."

He stands up and moves round the table as quickly as he can, barrelling into Nicky and pushing him off his chair and onto the carpet, hugging him tight. JJ grins, fingers moving quickly to tickle Nicky, rolling them around on the floor as Nicky tries to get away, giggling frantically, and squirming around.

"Give in!" JJ grins, tickling him harder across his stomach.

"I give in, I give in!" Nicky manages to get out between giggles, and JJ relents, letting him go and then dashing away to hide behind the corner of Nicky's bed. "You use your power for EVIL" Nicky grins, pointing an accusing finger at JJ's blond head peeping at him over the edge of the bed.

"Not true! I would use it for good. Like for catching Cheetahs, and Ostriches because they're too fast for other people, and for chasing bad guys who are also fast, like if an Olympic athlete stole the crown jewels, and for... running away."

"What would you be running away from?"

"Monsters. Monsters and... things."

Nicky nods. Monsters _are_ scary. JJ comes out from his hiding place behind the bed and back over to the table, and for a while they work on their comic, Nicky colouring neatly each frame, leaving big speech bubbles to copy the words into later, and JJ concentrating hard on printing each word so that Nicky can actually read it, his tongue sticking out a little as he focuses.

JJ clicks the lid onto his pen and drops it onto the table.

"I'm bored of this now, let's play. Let's be superheroes."

Nicky grins and puts his pen away into the box before standing and pulling JJ into the centre of his bedroom.

"Ok, you stand here, and I'll go invisible."

"How are you going to go –"

"Shut your eyes." Nicky says, and he does.

"How will I know when to open them, Nicky?" There's no reply. "Nicky?"

JJ opens his eyes and looks around him for Nicky. He can't see him anywhere in the room and for a moment he thinks maybe Nicky actually _can_ go invisible before figuring that he's probably just hiding somewhere.

He ducks down to look under the table, and then under the bed. No Nicky.

He pads over to the wardrobe, pulling it open and pushing the clothes to the side. No Nicky.

He checks the toy cupboard in the corner of the room. No Nicky.

He even looks behind the curtains in case Nicky's crouched on the windowsill behind them. No Nicky.

He goes back to the centre of the carpet, turning slowly in a circle so that he can take in the whole room. No Nicky.

"Ok, this is weird now. Where are you? You're not... You're really invisible aren't you?" JJ asks the empty room.

Two hands suddenly cover his eyes and he shrieks, spinning round to face Nicky, who's doubled over laughing at his yelp of fright.

"Shut up! I wasn't scared! How did... where WERE you?" JJ asks, trying to get his pounding heart under control.

"You thought I was invisible!" Nicky's giggling, "You're NINE YEARS OLD and you still think people have super powers!"

"Shut up!" JJ grins, "Seriously, where were you?"

"I was behind you."

"Wait what?"

"I was standing behind you the whole time, I just followed you about wherever you went." Nicky laughs, clearly pleased to have got one over on JJ, for once.

JJ opens his mouth to speak, then stops, hand reaching out to pick up one of the felt tips from the table. "Well, seeing as you got to do your superpower, I should get to do mine," JJ nods, fiddling with the pen in his hand. Before Nicky can reply, JJ's got the lid off and has drawn a smiley face in pink ink on Nicky's cheek.

"Can't catch me! I'm too fast!" yells JJ, dropping the pen on the floor and dashing away toward the door, slipping out of it as Nicky starts to chase him.

"For EVIL! You're using them for EVIL!"


	8. Chapter 8

Nicky's kicking the soccerball repeatedly against the goal posts his dad painted in white on the fence around their back yard. He's angry. He didn't get onto the soccer team at school, even though he'd tried really hard _and_ scored twice during the try-out game. The coach said he just wasn't as good as the other kids, and Nicky knows that's a lie, but the coach is one of the other boys' dad, so he just let it go and walked home trailing his boots behind him.

He kicks the ball as hard as he can against the fence, watching as it smashes into the wooden slats with a satisfying crash. He does it a second time, and then a third, angry with himself now. He's _ten_ for god's sake; he should have friends at school. He should have friends, full stop. At that moment, two hands appear at the top of the fence, closely followed by JJ's grinning face.

"Dude, if you were trying to knock me down, you nearly did it!" JJ laughs, pulling himself up and over the fence, scuffing his shirt against the slats, a smear of dirty brown across the pale pink.

Nicky smiles back at his best friend as JJ kicks the ball up, catching and balancing it on the curve of his foot. He kicks it back to Nicky, and then stands in front of the makeshift goal posts, arms outstretched.

"How did your try-out go? Did you get a place on the team?" JJ's face drops as he sees Nicky scuffing at the floor with the toe of his sneaker. "Oh... well then, we should practice. Because you are _definitely_ going to get on it next time, k?"

The dark haired boy nods, dropping the ball to the floor and wiping his hands down his jeans to get the dust off them before taking a few steps back and kicking the ball toward the goal. It sails easily past JJ's hands, slamming against the fence and bouncing back to Nicky's feet where he stops it easily with the side of his shoe.

"You're meant to stop it, JJ, the ball? You're meant to try and catch it..."

"I know that..." JJ sticks his tongue out, but he's laughing and positioning himself better as he tries to cover as much of the goal with his body as he can. "Ok, try again, and this time, I WILL be ready for you."

Nicky kicks the ball toward the goal and once again it thunks against the wood as JJ misses it by miles. He's not sure if JJ's doing it on purpose to try and make him feel better about the bad try out, or if he's just really, really bad at catching. The next few times are the same, the ball bouncing off the fence and back to Nicky's feet. No, JJ's definitely doing this on purpose, he can't be _that_ bad.

"You're doing this on purpose. No one is that bad at catching."

"Well... I am." JJ laughs from where he's stretched out on the ground, not having bothered to get up from his last spectacular dive for the ball. He'd missed, of course, but it had been impressive nonetheless. Nicky holds out his hand to help him up and pushes him back in front of the goal.

"One more try."

Nicky takes a proper run up this time - in his mind he's in front of packed stands of screaming fans - and kicks the ball hard. It flies toward JJ, who ducks out of the way to avoid it hitting his face but stands up in time for it to bounce back and hit him square in the back of the head.

JJ takes a few staggering steps forward as his hand flies to the back of his head before slumping forward onto the ground. Nicky runs over and drops to his hands and knees next to his friend, pushing JJ's blond fringe off his face so he can look at him properly. His eyes are closed, his whole face completely still.

"Oh my god, JJ! JJ, are you ok? Can you hear me?"

JJ's lips are moving as he mumbles something so quietly Nicky can't make out any of the words. He leans closer, almost pressing his ear against JJ's lips, trying to hear what he's saying. There's a moment's pause before –

"GOTCHA!" JJ yells into his ear, cracking up and practically kicking his legs up as Nicky jumps back in surprise. JJ's rolling around on the floor literally crying with laughter as Nicky tries to regain control of his breathing. He finally manages it just as JJ stops laughing, lying face down on the ground and panting a little, a few giggles escaping his mouth every now and then.

Nicky frowns and prods JJ's side with the toe of his shoe and he rolls over, smiling up at Nicky and looking innocent for all of three seconds before he explodes back into laughter.

"Your FACE! Oh my god that was the best thing I have ever seen. EVER!"

"Stop it JJ. It wasn't funny, I was really worried, I thought I hurt you or something." JJ's still rolling around on the dusty grass at the base of the goal, eyes scrunched up as he laughs. Then there's a bang, and the laughter stops suddenly as JJ's leg slams into the concrete at the bottom of the fence post.

"Ow." JJ sits up, rubbing his leg carefully and gazing up at Nicky with a reproachful look in his eyes. "Your stupid fence hurt my leg."

"Serves you right for scaring me." Nicky frowns at the blond boy for a moment, then pulls him up into a hug. "Does that make you feel better?"

JJ nods into his shoulder, and when they pull away from each other Nicky notices how much dust is on the both of them. He brushes down his own shirt, then reaches out to brush the dirt from JJ's until they're both almost clean.

"JJ... Why do you always wear a pink shirt? I've known you like, 4 years and I don't think I've ever seen you _not_ in pink..."

"I just really like pink... am I not allowed to like pink?" JJ's tone is jokey, but there's something behind the words that Nicky can't quite work out.

He holds out his hand for JJ's, so that they can go inside and get a snack, but JJ just shakes his head.

"I should go... stuff to do..."

Before Nicky can stop him JJ's climbed back over the fence, and he's left staring at the empty goal post, his hand still held out in front of him.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N - I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Oh my god, you guys, thank you for reading this and thank you for reviewing it. I honestly never thought that this would get past the first chapter! Anyway, what I meant to say was that this'll be the last chapter for at least a week, because I move on Saturday and I start Uni on monday and I have no idea how much time I'm going to have to write. **

**It might be that I have TONS of time and you can disregard this, but whatever. I hope you like this, please don't kill me, and I love reviews and messages so GO AHEAD.**

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><p>Nick laughs at something Ann's saying as they walk into the cafeteria, queuing up with a crowd of other students to get whatever unappetising meal's on offer this Friday. He's twelve now, and at Junior High, and he's far too adult to bring a bag lunch anymore. Danny joins them as they finally reach the end of the line, and once they've all got their food Nick turns to look out across the dining hall, scanning the people sitting at the tables for Jeff.<p>

Nick frowns to himself, wondering if Jeff's off sick. He's not part of any clubs, so it can't be that he's missing lunch for a practise or a rehearsal. Nick shrugs, and follows Danny and Ann over to a table as they talk animatedly about the debate club meeting that they're going to after school. Nick picks at his food, letting the talk go over his head and feeling a little left out. He's part of the Drama club and the choir with them both but he just isn't really interested in debate.

Nick's fork slips as someone nudges his arm and he turns to see Jeff sliding into the seat next to him, munching on an apple.

"I thought maybe you were ill, how come you're late to lunch?" Nick asks as Jeff dumps his bag down next to them on the floor. There's a moment's silence as Jeff finishes his mouthful, twirling his fingers in the air as he chews exaggeratedly.

"I had to clean up in art. I got paint on... pretty much everything." Jeff grins, taking another bite out of his apple.

"So I see..." Nick points to the dots of various coloured paint across the back of Jeff's hand and up his wrist and arm, "What exactly where you painting?"

"Self Portrait."

"But why are you so-"

"I had to paint myself. PAINT MYSELF! Geddit?" Jeff cracks up, but Nick just rolls his eyes.

"That's not even funny... But seriously, what were you doing?"

Jeff coughs, trying to control his laughter before replying, "We're doing Jackson Pollock. I got a bit carried away while I was Pollocking about."

Jeff bites his bottom lip, and Nick knows he's trying really hard not to laugh at his own joke.

"Oh come on! That was a good one!"

Nick smiles to himself, then realises Ann and Danny are waiting for him to reply to something. He looks at them in confusion.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come over after debate club? You can just sit in the back while club's going on, there's usually someone else doing that so you'll have someone to talk to, then you can come back to mine with that idiot." Ann nods toward Danny, who's busy seeing how many chicken dunkers he can get in his mouth at one time.

Danny glares at Ann, looking as menacing as he can with that amount of food in his face, before trying to explain himself and spraying them both with breadcrumbs. Nick laughs as Ann lunges over the table to wipe the crumbs back onto Danny's shirt, jumping back as the ketchup sachets start flying. He turns, grinning, to Jeff, who is nearly always first to start any kind of food fight. Jeff isn't there.

Nick looks up across the cafeteria in time to see a pink shirted, blond haired boy slip out through the red double doors into the corridor. He's about to head out after him but something cold and sticky hits the side of his face and he barely has time to register that it's ketchup before he's being pelted with French fries.

Nick laughs, throwing a few back before ducking under the table to find a tissue and get the tomato sauce off his face before it dries. When he sits back up, Ann and Danny are trying to tidy the table as best they can before a teacher sees the mess they've created between the three of them.

When the bell goes, they each go off to their lessons, agreeing to meet at the end of the day to go to Debate club and then to Ann's. French, Maths and English go by faster than they usually do on a Friday afternoon, and to Nick's great surprise, Debate club's actually kinda interesting. Ann and Danny were right, there are a few other people there who aren't debating, and Nick spends half his time chatting with them and the rest of the time listening to the Debate over whether uniform is a good or a bad thing for education. Personally, Nick'd hate to have to wear a uniform, but he can understand the 'for' team's arguments.

After Debate club, they head back to Ann's, along with one of Ann's friends, Judy. They sit and talk in Ann's room, with some movie playing in the background that none of them are really watching and before too long it's seven o'clock and Nick has to get home for dinner. It turns out that Judy lives just around the corner from him, so they walk together through the gathering gloom of the evening. They've walked a few streets before either of them speak.

"I've just remembered where I've seen you before" She says, snapping Nick out of his daydream about why Jeff was so weird at lunch.

"Oh... really? Where?"

"You were at the soccer try-outs on Monday, right? I was waiting for my brother to finish."

"Oh. Ok. I didn't know you had a brother."

"Uh-huh. He's captain of the team, he was the one holding the try-outs," Nick remembers the tall, sandy haired boy who'd run them through the drills and whistled appreciatively each time he'd scored a goal. He can see the family resemblance now that he thinks about it. "He said you were really good. You'll probably get a spot on the team, which would be so awesome, right?"

"Right!" Nick grins, his walking slowing as they reach Judy's house. She waves goodbye to him from the doorway and he waves back from where he's leaning on the fence around her front garden. Checking his watch, Nick heads home as fast as he can when he realises he's already late for dinner.

After dinner, during which his parents nagged him about school, homework, tidying his room and all the usual things, Nick's sprawled out on his bed with his headphones on and his eyes shut. He's dancing his feet along to the music and drumming the back of his neck with his fingers as he thinks about how awesome it'll be when he's on the soccer team, and how he'll probably go back to the debate club to hang out with Judy and the others at the back. He's thinking about how maybe he could ask Judy for her number, 'cause she was pretty cool really, when the music fades away as the track changes and he hears a cough from someone standing in his room.

Nick opens his eyes, starting back as Jeff's grinning face hovers barely an inch from his. He sticks his tongue out at Jeff as he sits up and pushes his headphones down around his neck, crossing his legs to make room for Jeff to sit down.

"Hey Nicky."

Nick grins back at his friend. "Hey JJ."

"I wanted to ask you ab-"

"I have to tell you som-"

They both start speaking at the same time, then break off laughing. Jeff grins, although the smile isn't as broad as usual and it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"You first" he says, wriggling a little on the bed to get more comfortable, before leaning his chin on his hand and looking expectantly at Nick.

"I wanted to ask you about why you... kinda ran off at lunch. I mean, I know Ann and Danny sort of get absorbed in the conversation when they're talking and don't really notice anything else but what they're talking about, but then we started having a mini-foodfight but you were gone and..." He trails off because he realises he's rambling and the look on Jeff's face is so, so sad that he worries he's said something to upset him.

"I ran off because... well, I really needed to talk to you and you were busy with your friends and I didn't wanna interrupt it because... neither of us have really had other friends before and you looked so happy that..." Jeff shrugs, looking down at his feet and picking at the hem of his jeans.

Nick suddenly has an image of six year old JJ sitting exactly like that, fringe covering his face, avoiding eye-contact. The silence between them turns uncomfortable.

"Oh... Um... What did you want to talk to me about? We can talk about it now?"

Jeff mumbles something, and Nick has to ask him to repeat it. Jeff's head snaps up angrily.

"I said, Nicky, that I'm moving. My dad got a new job and we have to move. Like, this weekend. As in, tomorrow. I won't be coming back to school on Monday."

The words hang in the air, and it's all Nick can do not to cry, tears flooding his eyes all of a sudden. He feels like he's losing part of himself. He leans forward and pulls Jeff into the tightest hug he can.

"I guess this is you saying goodbye then" Jeff smiles into Nick's shoulder, his voice wobbling slightly. "It's ok though, Nicky, you've got Ann and Danny and that girl from debate club"

"Judy?"

"Yeah, Judy. She's totally into you, you should go for it."

They pull apart, smiling at each other. Jeff rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, and Nick does the same, each pretending they don't see the other do it.

Jeff sniffs, "I have to go help finish packing. It was kinda short notice so we've got tons to do."

"I could come help you, if you wanted, it's Friday so I have no homework to do tonight and..." Nick stops, remembering out of nowhere that he's never actually been to Jeff's house. He never will, now, he supposes.

Jeff's shaking his head though, and standing up off Nick's bed. "It's alright, we're nearly done anyway." Nick follows him over to the door of the bedroom, opening it for him, then hugging him once more.

"I'll miss you, JJ."

"I'll see you again, Nicky, I'm sure. Now go get Judy's number."

Jeff grins and has disappeared off down the stairs before Nick can stop him. Nick shuts the door and goes back to slump on his bed and soon the sound of his quiet sobs joins the tinny music still playing from his headphones.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N** - Guys! Thank you so so much for all the reviews you've been giving me, it means SO much that you lot like this! There're gonna be bigger gaps between the chapters now, probably of a couple of days, and so I hope you guys keep reading and spread the word! If you like it, or just wanna even chat, message me (Also ideas for Drabbles are like candy to me)

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><p>Jeff slips into Nick's room, smiling at the sleeping form of his friend spread out across the bed, a book still clasped lightly in his hand. Jeff turns his head to read the title, grinning as he realises it's the book of Disney song lyrics that they'd both poured over so many times when they were little. The bed's in a different place since he was last here, in the centre of the room rather than tucked into the corner to stop the monsters getting out, and the craft table's gone too, replaced with a shiny, blue drum kit.<p>

The walls, although they're the same colour as they've always been, are now plastered with posters and pictures, Matthew Broderick's face grinning down at him from the Ferris Bueller poster above the bed. There're pictures of the Beatles too, a Sweeney Todd poster and a poster of a red-headed girl and a brown haired man apparently drifting through space, although Jeff doesn't know what it's from.

The desk pushed against the wall is half covered with books, half covered with Lego, a Pirate ship sitting in the middle of a partially finished city-scape. Jeff smiles and pads over to the desk in his socks to look closer at the pirate ship, flicking a finger against the sails and placing one of the crew carefully into the crow's nest. It's been far too long since he was here.

Behind him on the bed Nick's laptop makes a noise, and Jeff goes to turn it off, his eyes widening when he sees the tabs open on the screen. He leans over Nick, getting his face as close to Nick's as he can without actually climbing on top of him, then yells;

"WAKE UP NICKY!"

Nick sits up, smashing his forehead into Jeff's. They both reel back in pain, hands clutched to their skin.

"Ow. Ow ow ow ow."

"Oh my god... Owwww! God Nicky, when did your forehead get so HARD?"

"It's your fault for being practically on my face!" Nick grins, rubbing his head, before blinking, his smile growing even bigger. "You're here! I haven't seen you in forever." They hug, and drop back down to sit on the bed.

"Yeah, Dad had to come for a work... thing and so I thought I'd get a lift and surprise you."

"You certainly did that... I think you bruised me..."

Jeff sticks his tongue out at Nick, crossing his legs, then grabs the laptop and pulls it closer to them.

"Now Nicky, I know you're a growing boy, but we need to talk about this."

He clicks play on the video that's paused on the screen, and the sound of 'Kiss the Girl' from The Little Mermaid fills the room as Nick drops his head into his hands, flushing pink.

"Why are you napping in your room and watching The Little Mermaid, good film though it is, when this girl Judy is messaging you like, a million times a minute on Facebook?"

Nick shuffles uncomfortably on the bed, rucking the blue sheets underneath him before sighing and looking up at Jeff.

"We're doing it in Choir Club, that song, and I got the lead, you know, Sebastian's part."

"That explains this then," says Jeff, tapping the book of lyrics that sits between them on the bed.

Nick nods, "I know the lyrics, but every time I try and sing them I..." He shrugs, "I've never kissed anyone, Jeff, I can't act the song properly because I've never kissed anyone and all that I can think about is how the lyrics are about me and..."

Jeff grins, "The boy's too shy?"

Nick kicks him, "Don't you dare laugh! It isn't funny! I'm FOURTEEN and I've not even kissed anyone on the cheek yet!" Jeff grins, biting his lip. "Anyway, how've you been... Why haven't I seen you in, like, two years? Have you just been busy with friends or not had a chance to get here?" Nick looks at him expectantly.

Jeff's hand drops from his mouth where he's been hiding his laughter to drum his fingers on the back of the Disney book. There's a moment's pause where he looks like he's considering something, before he speaks.

"You could kiss me if you want. If it'd help."

"What?"

"I'm just saying, if it'd help with the song, you could... kiss me."

"I'm not gay!"

"I never said that you were... I'm not either. Well, I don't think so... I might be. Who knows?"

There's a long pause, and Nick's avoiding looking at him, choosing instead to toy with the corner of the sheets.

"Sorry, it was a stupid idea, I should never have –"

"Ok."

"What?"

"I said ok. Can we just do this now?" Nick pushes the book out of the way and leans in; pressing his lips against Jeff's tentatively, so softly he can barely feel them. He can feel Jeff smile before he pulls away.

"You should probably shut your eyes... it's better like that."

Nick nods, then leans in again and this time he's kissing harder and Jeff's lips are soft on his and oh my god this is kissing. They lie back across the bed, Nick's body pressing Jeff's into the sheets as his lips part and Nick's tongue flicks across Jeff's bottom lip and into his mouth. Their tongues move against each other, and Nick's hands push into Jeff's hair and he's just getting far too involved in this when his foot connects with something and there's a crash as the laptop slips off the bed onto the floor.

Nick pulls off Jeff, scrambling off the bed to check his laptop's ok, sighing in relief as he sees the screen isn't cracked and everything seems to be working ok as he presses a few buttons.

"It's alright!" Nick grins, turning back to face Jeff, "Nothing broken..." he trails off as he sees Jeff, still sprawled out on the bed where he'd left him, staring up at the ceiling and breathing hard.

His lips are moving like he's trying to speak and his hair is a mess where Nick's fingers had fisted into it only moments before, blond strands sticking up at the back against the pillow.

"I think you turned me..." Jeff glances over at him, still not moving, "That was amazing, do all boys kiss like that?"

Nick shrugs, blushing, "How would I know? I've never kissed any boys."

Jeff nods, looking back up at the ceiling, "Oh yeah... well, you were better than the girls I've kissed anyway. Miles better."

"Oh... thanks" Nick smiles, then hesitates. "When you said that I turned you did you –"

"Like I said Nicky, who knows?" He grins, "Think you'll be able to do your song now?"

Nick punches Jeff's arm. "Shut up. Yes. No. Probably. I mean, I can –"

He's cut off as Jeff's phone buzzes in his pocket, the intro to 5 Colours in her Hair stopping short as Jeff reads the text and sighs.

"That was my idiot dad. I should go..." He pushes his feet into his pink high tops and stands up, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "Not sure when I'll get to see you next..." His gaze flicks to Nick's lips, then back up to his eyes. He tilts Nick's face up and kisses his lips softly, hand cupping his chin. The laptop bleeps in the background as he pulls away. "Judy's talking to you..."

Nick nods, a little surprised still from the kiss. Jeff slaps his cheek, standing up properly and grinning. "You should kiss her, not me. You like her." He waves, and disappears out of the room, leaving Nick with a sore cheek and a strange sense of achievement.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry this is getting a bit slow to update, my internet at Uni is just rubbish! I'm doing my best though, but if there aren't updates for days, that's why! Hope you like it, and please review, or tell me on Tumblr that you like it! I'm LauranicusPond over there!**

**Also, the episode of Doctor Who that they're watching is called 'Blink' and it's S3.10 so go watch it!**

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><p>Nick's sitting up on the sofa, ankle propped up on a pile of cushions. Some idiot had tackled straight into his leg during his soccer game that Monday, and the doctor had insisted he take the rest of the week off school to rest. Normally Nick wouldn't have minded having time off school, as his parents both worked during the day and he had the run of the house, but his ankle really did start to hurt if he put weight on it for longer than five minutes.<p>

After the first day alone in his house, Nick had started to get bored. Sitting on the sofa with his laptop was fine, but all his friends were at school, so there was no one online to talk to, and there's only so long someone can play webgames before they get dull.

Wednesday morning, there'd been a knock at the door, and Jeff had been standing there, a broad grin on his face.

"You said on Facebook you were really bored, and my school's closed until the end of the week because part of the science block flooded. Apparently someone filled all the water tanks with soap flakes... Not that I know anything about it..." He said, grinning at Nick as he slipped past him into the house, "So now I'm here to entertain."

"How did you get here? Did your Dad bring you again or?" Nick asked, limping behind Jeff into the living room where the TV was playing one of the Doctor Who DVD menus.

Jeff ignored his question. "What's that?" he said, pointing toward the TV.

"It's Doctor Who." Jeff's face stayed blank. "You've never seen Doctor Who?" Jeff shook his head.

Nick launched into an explanation and managed to get as far as describing the events of Doomsday before Jeff slumped back in confusion. Nick decided that just watching a few episodes would probably be easier.

"Just sit down" Nick grinned, grabbing the remote and putting his foot up on the cushions before pressing play.

"You're not looking at the statue..."

"Neither are you..."

"Oh my god!" JJ yelps, ducking back down behind the sofa as the Weeping Angel on screen is suddenly much closer.

Nick laughs, looking over at the blond headed boy as he peeps over the cushions at the TV screen, fingers splayed across his face.

"Nick..." Jeff whispers, edging along behind the sofa until his face is level with Nick's, "Can we stop watching?"

"You can't stop watching, Jeff, they'll get you."

"Shut up! Nick please can we stop watching?"

"Jeff, if we stop watching - They. Will. Get. You."

"Shut up! Why doesn't she just give them the key?"

"Because then they'll eat the sun."

"Nick I really don't like – OH MY GOD DON'T LOOK AWAY WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" yelled Jeff diving back behind the sofa where he'd been hiding for almost the entire episode.

Nick shifts his position to look over the back of the sofa. "Don't you want to know what happens at the end?"

Jeff shakes his head. "You can just tell me."

Nick laughs, taking pity on him and reaching for the remote to switch off the TV.

"They live happily ever after. You can come out now."

Jeff grins, climbing over the back of the sofa and dropping down to sit next to Nick. He picks up the DVD box and reads the back for a moment.

"There's one about Shakespeare? Why couldn't we have watched that one?"

Nick shrugs, "It's just not my favourite... I'm not really that keen on Shakespeare."

Jeff's mouth drops open in surprise. "You... You don't like Shakespeare? But he's a genius! One of the best writers ever to have existed! He INVENTED WORDS for pity's sake!"

Nick laughs as Jeff rants about Shakespeare, wriggling his ankle tentatively and wincing as pain shoots up his leg. When he tunes back into what Jeff's saying, he's moved onto quoting chunks of text.

"...the wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,  
>Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;<br>Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,  
>And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough."<p>

Nick looks at him in bewilderment, "Wait... what?"

"It's from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', it's one of my... never mind." Jeff grins, then wriggles closer to Nick, leaning in conspiratorially. "Want to see something awesome?"

"Um..."

Jeff takes that as a yes, pushing up the leg of Nick's jeans, then twisting and rolling his palm against his leg hairs, ignoring Nick's swatting hands, until there's a tiny ball of hair tangled into the rest. Jeff grins at Nick.

"Have fun getting that out. Guy at school did it to me and I had to cut it out, I just couldn't get rid of it any other way," he laughs, pulling up his own jeans to show Nick the patch of hair missing from his leg.

Nick's about to get revenge, grinning as he reaches out for Jeff's leg, when Jeff's phone goes off in his bag out in the hallway and he scrambles away to grab it before it stops ringing. Nick can barely hear Jeff's side of the conversation, but when he comes back into the room, he's got his shoes on and his bag on his shoulder.

Jeff rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably, "That was my Mom... I kinda... didn't tell her I was coming here and she's... really pissed actually. I was hoping to stay around until the end of the week but..." Jeff shrugs, looking down at his feet, "She'll literally kick my ass if I don't go back home."

Nick frowns, "Jeff, if you don't want to... I mean, are your parents..." he trails off, unsure of how to articulate what he wants to say without sounding like a total idiot.

"It's cool. I should really get going though. I'll see myself out, I don't want you hurting yourself more, k?"

Nick nods sadly, "Call me if you need to, k?"

Jeff grins, waving from the doorway, before walking away down the wall and out of the front door.

"Idiot. Idiot Idiot." Nick says to himself, smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand. He leans over for the remote, flinching as his leg twists painfully, and turns the TV back on, picking a different episode and leaning back on the sofa, letting it play in the background as he loses himself in thought.


	12. Chapter 12

Nick's lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking. He's thinking about how pissed he is at his parents for transferring him, and how it's technically his fault for not believing that they actually would. He's thinking about how Danny and Ann have barely texted him since he got to Dalton, even though they'd said they would, and how he shouldn't care because he'll make friends here soon enough. Nick had thought he'd meet people through the soccer team, but Dalton doesn't have one, and the only team sports they do have are ones he's no good at. He's thinking about Judy, and how much he misses her. Then he's thinking about certain parts of Judy, and how much he misses _them_ and how much he misses kissing her and...

Nick glances at the door, then pushes his trousers and boxers off, dumping them onto the floor by his bed, before lying back across the sheets. He closes his eyes, picturing Judy, thinking of her as he strokes himself and soon he's close, arching up off the bed, his bare toes curling against the cotton beneath them. He moves his hand faster, and he's moaning and his hips are bucking as he –

"Hey Nick, what're you... OH MY GOD!"

Fifteen minutes later, Jeff, and a freshly showered Nick, are sitting awkwardly next to each other on the edge of Nick's bed, resolutely avoiding the place he'd been lying not too long ago.

"So um..." Nick starts, before trailing off.

"If you heard any noises while you were in the shower, it was me trying to smash the image of you cumming out of my brain."

Nick drops his head into his hands, blushing furiously.

"How did you even get in? The door was locked! I definitely locked the door." He mumbles into his hands.

"Picked the lock when you didn't answer my knocking." Jeff grins. "I'm just sorry it took so long to find out that you were here! If I'd known last week I might have avoided..." he gestures towards the messy sheets, "that."

Nick groans in embarrassment, keeping his face covered, his still damp, dark brown hair falling in front of his eyes.

"You..." Nick gives up, pulling Jeff into a hug, laughing as they lose their balance and fall sideways onto the bed. They both jump up off the bed at the same time, suddenly realising where they were lying, and Nick grins over at Jeff.

"So why are you at Dalton?" Jeff asks him, pushing his hands into the pockets of his blazer. "You were getting long pretty well at your old school, right?"

Nick has to look up slightly to meet his gaze, and he realises that Jeff's taller than him now, by at least an inch. Nick'd always been the taller one before, and it feels strange to know that they're not even the same height. Jeff's still as blond as ever though, and he seems to have grown into himself, holding himself straighter than he had in the past. He's more confident, somehow.

"Uh... My parents threatened to move me to a 'better school' if my grades didn't get better. I didn't think they were serious but..." He shrugs, "apparently they were."

Jeff nods. "Bummer..."

"Why didn't I hear from you for two whole years?" Nick blurts out before he can stop himself.

Jeff shrugs, kicking the leg of Nick's desk, "Life got in the way. Like yours did, I guess. You didn't try to get in contact with me either..."

Nick rubs the back of his neck, feeling a little guilty. Truth be told, he'd barely thought about Jeff since they were fourteen. He'd been busy with his friends and with Judy. He shakes his head to stop himself thinking about Judy again, shifting uncomfortably on the spot.

Jeff's grinning at him with raised eyebrows, and Nick can practically hear the smirk in his voice when he speaks again. "So, are you going to join the Warblers?"

Nick frowns. "The whatnow?"

"The _Warblers_" Jeff repeats. "The Warblers are like... rockstars."

Nick's staring at him like he's an idiot. "Wait so... the Warblers are like... a band?"

Jeff sighs, but he's smiling "They're the Glee Club... we're the Glee Club, I should say. I'm their newest member but you'll change that, right? You always liked singing before, I bet you're still super good."

Nick grins back at him, mentally deciding to pick an audition song later that evening and go find out about the Warblers in the morning. He's already rattling through song choices in his mind when Jeff's fingers click in front of his face.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming, what did you say?"

"I said, Nicky, that I have to go," He pushes his sleeve up to show Nick the time, the watch on his wrist chunky and startlingly pink, "I've got an absolute ton of homework. Pick a good song."

He grins, and then heads for the door, opening it and slipping out.

There's a pause, and just before the door slams shut behind him, Nick hears him yell, "And have a nice wank!"

Nick drops into the chair, and bangs his head down against the wood of his desk in embarrassment. Just what he needed, a madder, older Jeff to drive him crazy every moment of the day. He grins, sits up, and then flips up his laptop screen, itunes already open in front of him. If he's going to get into the Warblers, he needs to pick a really good song.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N - Just... Thank you Guys so MUCH for still reading this! Also, Reviews help keep the inbox monster happy :)**

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><p>"Wake up Nicky."<p>

Nick mumbles in his sleep, trying to get his head back under the covers where it's warm and dark and safe, but Jeff's persistent, whispering in his ear until he pushes back the covers and sits up.

"What? What do you want, Jeff? It's like... what time even is it?"

Jeff shrugs, "Don't know... four maybe? But it doesn't matter becau..."

Nick's not listening, his hand groping in the dark for his phone, fingers closing around it and pressing randomly at a button. He winces as the screen lights up, blinding him momentarily before he can read the time highlighted against his screensaver.

"Jeff, it's four thirty in the morning... oh my god... what on earth is so important that you've woke me up?"

"I JUST told you!"

"Tell me again, but in the morning" Nick replies, trying to burrow back into his pillow.

"It's morning now! Nicky! Get up. Get up. Get up get up getupgetupgetup! It SNOWED!"

Nick grins against the cotton of the sheets, and then looks back over his shoulder at Jeff.

"It snowed?"

Jeff nods frantically, grinning, and it's only then that Nick notices what he's wearing. He's wrapped up tight in a thick black coat and one of the Dalton issue navy and red scarves, but his hair is almost completely covered, only his blonde fringe visible beneath the pink, woollen beanie pulled onto his head.

"Are we going out in the snow?" Nick asks curiously.

Jeff nods again, smiling even wider. "I have... the BEST plan. I need your help, now get up, get dressed and I'll see you in the Warbler Room." He whispers loudly, before practically skipping out of the room, socked feet slipping slightly on the wooden floor.

Nick scrambles out of bed, grabbing the red Uniform sweater from the floor where he'd dropped it the night before and pulling it on over his pyjama shirt, then hurrying over to the wardrobe to find socks and his coat.

A few minutes later, Nick's creeping through the dark school corridors, clutching his boots in a gloved hand, trying to stay as quiet as possible as he makes his way to the Warblers practice room. Opening the door as silently as he can, Nick pads into the room, bumping into one of the leather sofas and almost shrieking when Jeff taps him on the shoulder.

"Put your boots on so that we can get going, I don't know how long this is going to take..."

Nick drops down onto the sofa he'd bumped into and pulls his boots on hurriedly, cold fingers fumbling with the laces through his gloves.

"How long WHAT is going to take?" Nick asks warily, finally doing his laces up and standing to face Jeff, who's now glancing out of the door.

"Basically, you go outside, and come round to one of the windows, then pass me in snow using this." Jeff kicks the large plastic bucket standing by his feet.

"That's the vaguest plan I've ever heard."

"There's more, but I'll explain as we go because we have GOT to get a move on with this, it's already five..."

Nick sighs, pulling on his hat as he leaves the practice room and runs round to the outer doors, slipping through them and crunching through the snow around the edge of the building. It's almost completely silent out here, the snow muffling everything in that way that always surprises him no matter how many times he sneaks out into the snow in the middle of the night - which, him and Jeff both know, is _every_ time it snows.

He eventually finds the window he's looking for, Jeff's face looking out at him, his nose already tipped with pink from the cold. Nick bends down, scooping up as much snow as he can into the bucket and then leans in through the window and holds it out for Jeff to take.

"Just dump it out onto the floor, it's quicker."

Nick shrugs, upending the bucket, shaking it to make none of the snow's stuck to the bottom, before filling it again.

"Explain to me what we're doing exactly..."

Jeff laughs quietly, "I'll tell you when we've got enough snow, keep passing it through!"

Nick grins, "Do you actually have a plan?"

"Yes! It's just not... finalised yet."

Nick rolls his eyes, smiling, before continuing to scoop snow into the room, tipping bucketful after bucketful through the open window, only stopping when it's piled up as high as the inside windowsill.

"Now what?" he asks, peering through the window at Jeff, who's kneeling at the bottom of the pile of snow, attempting to pat it into shape. Jeff looks up at him, cheeks as pink as his nose, and smiles.

"Now, you get in here and help me build a snowman."

Nick's eyes widen and he grins as he turns on his heel, running through the snow back toward the door, only stopping twice; once to pick up two sticks from under the tree by the running track, and once to pull his boots off before dashing back to the Warbler Room.

"I brought arms!" He calls, skidding into the room on his socks, the sticks held out either side of him.

"Fire arms?"

"Uh... no."

"Damn, that would have been awesome."

"Yeah..."

They grin at each other, before Jeff snaps into action.

"Ok, if you open all the windows to make the room really cold to make sure it doesn't melt, then we'll do his body."

Nick nods, opening each window as wide as it'll go, then pulling his coat tighter around him as the temperature in the room drops drastically. When he turns to look at Jeff, he can see his breath, forming a cloud in front of his mouth as he pants, struggling with the snow. Nick laughs, his own breath billowing out before him as he goes to join Jeff.

Together they work for the next hour, building up the snowman, Nick occasionally leaning out of the window to get more snow, Jeff holding tight to his feet to stop him falling out. When they're finally done, Nick carefully pushes the stick arms into the sides of the Snowman's body, and they stand back, admiring their work.

They hadn't been able to find anything to make eyes out of, so they'd drawn them on using the handle of Wes' precious gavel, before pushing that into the edge of the mouth as a pipe. Nick tilts his head.

"It still needs... something" Jeff says, arms folded across his chest, rubbing at the side of his arms with his hands to keep warm in the freezing cold of the practice room, his breath even more visible with the rapidly lightning sky outside.

Nick nods in agreement, then smiles broadly, pulling off his scarf and draping it around the Snowman's neck. It's better but it's still not perfect, and Nick's desperate to get it finished because his watch tells him it's almost seven am and he needs to get upstairs and get changed before they're caught.

"Sheet music!" Jeff cries suddenly, dashing off to the cabinets at the side of the room, Nick close on his tail. They search through the draws, and it's Nick who finds it first, picking the first page of 'Once in Royal David's City' before scrambling back to the Snowman and balancing it between the wooden fingers of the his hand.

Jeff's watch beeps on his wrist at the same time as Nick's, and together they tidy the room around the snowman, before running out of the doors and back to their respective bedrooms. Nick's barely gotten into his uniform and patted his hair into some semblance of normality before there's a knock on his door and David's head appears.

"Emergency Warbler meeting, Nick!" There's a pause, and he laughs, letting his usually serious demeanour slip for a moment. "Oh man, you have _got_ to see this"

Nick tries hard to look as curious as he can, pulling his tie over his head and knotting it messily as he follows David down to the practice room, yelling voices audible from even around the corner. David pushes the door open and heads into the chaos of the room, Nick close behind him, glancing around for Jeff and trying to stifle a yawn.

Even though he knows he left nothing behind to suggest it was him and Jeff who built the snowman, he's still strangely nervous he'll be singled out and caught, and he fixes what he hopes is an innocent expression on his face.

"This is a MOCKERY!" Thad is crying, pointing dramatically at the Snowman that's now melting slightly in the winter sun that streams through the still open windows. "Someone is trying to get to us."

"Maybe it's a rival club!" Trent offers.

"You!" Thad yells, spinning to point at Kurt now, "You're doing this on behalf of your old Glee Club"

Before Kurt can speak, Blaine cuts across him. "Thad, that's abs- "

A snowball hits him full in the face, and Nick bites his lip to stop from laughing as Blaine blinks in confusion, his mouth full of snow. There's a silence, and they all turn to look at Wes, who's dusting the snow off his hands.

"My gavel is being used," he nods toward where it's drooping slightly in the snowman's mouth, "So I needed another way to get everyone's attention. Now, what we need to do is-"

They never find out what Wes was planning for them to do, because Blaine retaliates, scooping a handful of snow from the snowman's body and flinging it back at Wes, the powdery snow scattering across the room and almost everyone in it. Nick throws himself down behind one of the sofas for cover as snowballs start flying left, right and centre, peeping up over the edge of the leather to look for Jeff.

Jeff's standing in the doorway looking very amused, and Nick's about to wave him over to join him in the safe haven behind the sofa when someone else bumps down beside him and he turns to see a redfaced, messy haired Kurt smiling over at him.

"You're not getting away that easily, Duval." Kurt grins, pulling Nick's shirt forward and dumping snow into it, laughing as Nick gasps from the cold. "At least it's not a slushie - no corn-dye to get out." He clarifies when Nick looks confused. "Come on, Thad, Wes and David have barricaded themselves behind the desk."

Together, they look over the edge of the sofa, then jump up, running out into the fray, their war-cries joining the cacophony of noise already ringing around the room.


	14. Chapter 14

"Is that really necessary?" Nick asks, gesturing to the streaks of black war paint across Jeff's cheeks. "It's not like we're actually leaving the school building..."

"It's entirely necessary. I don't know why you're complaining, this was YOUR idea." Jeff grins at him, then pulls on a black beanie and pushes his hands into his pockets.

Nick nods "Let's go."

Nick grabs his bag, shouldering it carefully, and pushes the door to his room open, holding it for Jeff as they creep out into the corridor, their steps almost silent in their matching black socks.

They move down the hall, Nick glancing at each door as they go, searching for the right one. Nick grins as he sees it, nudging Jeff and tiptoeing closer. They both stand for a moment and look at the poster of Katy Perry, spread out across fluffy looking clouds and very nearly naked.

"Are you _sure_ he's gay?"

Nick puts his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter, turning to grin at Jeff.

"Shut up, do you want him to hear us?"

Jeff shakes his head, and then drops down onto his knees in front of the door, peering at the keyhole before reaching for the bag Nick's placed onto the floor. Nick kicks gently at his hand, and Jeff clutches it to his chest in mock pain, smiling as Nick rolls his eyes.

"I need my lockpicking thing..." Jeff whispers, trailing off as Nick reaches into the pocket of his black hoodie and holds out a key, letting it dangle from a red leather keychain. "Where did you get that?" Jeff asks, standing to look at it better. "How can you have Blaine's key? He needs it to lock the door..."

Nick flicks the key up into his palm.

"It's not Blaine's, idiot, it's Kurt's key. I pickpocketed him during practice."

"Why does Kurt have a key to Blaine's room?"

Nick just looks at him incredulously.

"Are you really asking me that?"

"But why would he... oh!"

"There we go..." Nick laughs as Jeff wrinkles up his nose.

"Well... there are some images... um..."

Nick nudges him out of the way, then pushes the key into the lock, turning it slowly and opening the door as quietly as he can. They both lean into the room, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness and Jeff snorts with laughter. Nick turns to see what he's looking at and it takes all his strength not to laugh when he sees Blaine, stretched out on the bed, the covers all kicked to one side. He's face down, sprawled on his stomach in what are clearly Superman pyjamas.

Nick bites the inside of his mouth and creeps closer, wishing he'd thought to bring a camera. Blaine's pyjama bottoms are blue with red underpants printed around the waistband. The top, however, is a different matter.

"Is that... Nicky, do his have a cape?"

Nick nods, then places a finger to his lips, glancing over at the door.

"Where does he keep it?"

"Bathroom" Jeff replies, nodding toward the closed door on the opposite wall. "I'll stay here and um... keep watch..." He grins "Can I draw on his face?"

"No!" Nick whispers loudly, smiling as he picks up the bag and makes his way across to the bathroom, trying to avoid stepping on the multitude of nonsense scattered across the carpet. He reaches the door, pushing it open, then glances back at Jeff, whose face is hovering dangerously close to Blaine's.

"Stop it, you'll wake him up!" He calls softly, then steps into the bathroom, closing the door behind him before flicking the light on above the mirror.

He blinks a few times, the glare from the bulb hurting his eyes, before opening the cabinet beneath the sink, and reaching into his bag.

A few minutes later, Nick slips out of the bathroom, pulling the door gently shut behind him. Jeff's sitting on Blaine's swivel chair, swivelling. He waves to Nick, and then stands up, pushing the chair back under the desk where it had been when they got there. Nick takes a step towards him, and is about to speak when Blaine mumbles in his sleep and turns over onto his back, flinging his arms out and snuggling back down against the pillows.

The boys turn to look at each other, and then walk together, standing side by side at the foot of the bed and looking down at Blaine.

"Nicky... is that..."

"Yes."

"Oh good god."

"We should go..."

"Uh-huh"

Nick takes a few steps toward the door, and has almost reached it when he realises Jeff's not following him and turns back.

"Jeff, come on... He might wake up, and you'll be standing there like Edward Cullen."

Jeff doesn't move, and it's only when Nick goes over to him and wraps his hand around his wrist that he looks up. They tiptoe together to the door, and they're just pulling it open when Blaine moans something that sounds suspiciously like 'Kurt' and they dash out of the room, suppressing their laughter.

Nick leans on the door, Jeff dropping down to sit with his back against the wall beside him. There's a clink as Nick puts his satchel down and Jeff looks up at him curiously.

"I took all the bulbs out of the lights in his bathroom."

Jeff grins, "Oh that is pure evil. Evil genius."

Nick grins back at him. "Oh, I know."

Jeff grabs Nick's wrist, pulling it down to look at his watch.

"Two a.m. That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would..."

"I move fast."

Jeff laughs, then turns his head quickly, looking down the corridor toward the main school.

"Someone's coming..."

Nick grabs his bag, and then Jeff's hand, tugging him down the corridor back toward Nick's room. Together they run down the dark hallway, Jeff sprinting and then sliding in his socks around the corner. Nick mimics him, but his foot catches on something and he goes crashing down, landing heavily on his bag.

Jeff looks back as he hears the light-bulbs smash beneath Nick's body, his mouth open in shock.

"Are you ok?" he whispers, skidding back over to Nick and helping him up, looking back down the corridor.

Nick nods, wincing as he scrambles to his feet, dragging his bag behind him.

They reach Nick's room, and he peers cautiously into his satchel, sighing.

"That's that bag ruined then..." Nick says, dropping it into the bin, the shattered glass inside tinkling as it spills out against the plastic.

Jeff pouts sympathetically, and then reaches for the door handle.

"Better get to bed, Nicky. Big day ahead..." He grins as Nick yawns widely, and then slips out of the room, pulling the door shut gently behind him

* * *

><p>Nick's sitting on one of the sofas in the Warbler room, supporting his head on his arm and trying to nap in the relative quiet. David and Wes are whispering to each other in the corner, and Jeff's stretched out on the floor behind the sofa Nick's sitting on, fast asleep.<p>

Thad and Kurt come in, and have just spread their books out across one of the tables to start working when the doors slam open.

"Oh Yeah!" Blaine sings, and there's a silence as everyone looks at him, before the room explodes into laughter.

Blaine looks around, confused.

"What?"

"Blaine your-" David manages before he starts to laugh again, leaning back in his chair as Wes slumps down, resting his head on the desk, shoulders heaving with laughter.

"Did you look in a mirror this morning Blaine?" Thad asks, suppressing a smirk as he glances at Kurt, who has his head buried in his hands.

"No... why?"

Kurt looks up at him in surprise.

"But... how did you even do your hair?"

Blaine opens his mouth to speak, but Kurt stops him, reaching into his blazer pocket and pulling out his mirror, holding it out for Blaine to take. Blaine pops it open and blinks, mouth falling open in shock as he studies his reflection.

"I... I have glittery hair..." He smiles broadly. "That is so awesome!" He twists his head from side to side to admire his hair further. "I might do it like this EVERY day!"

Kurt stands and grabs Blaine's hand, pulling him out of the room, his words echoing in the corridor as he leads Blaine away.

"No. Let's go wash this out..."

Wes finally sits up, wiping tears from his eyes and breathing hard.

"That was excellent. Excellent." He says, David nodding in agreement next to him as they collect their books.

Nick laughs, just managing to stop himself blurting out that it was him and Jeff. He watches as David and Wes leave the room, whispering something to Thad as they pass. Thad gathers his notebooks and Kurt's and follows them out, leaving only Nick, Jeff and Trent in the room. Trent's head is down, hand moving fast across the page in front of him, and so Nick turns to look down at Jeff.

Jeff smiles up at him, hands tucked behind his head.

"Were you even watching just then?" Nick asks quietly, smiling back.

"I was listening!" Jeff protests, sitting up and crossing his legs. "We should really have known he'd like it shouldn't we..."

Nick laughs, covering his mouth as Trent looks over at him crossly.

"Probably..."

Jeff kneels up, getting close to Nick so he can whisper properly.

"So. What's next?"


	15. Chapter 15

Two heads, one blond and one brunette, peep around the door into the dark of Kurt's bedroom. The boys step, bare footed and silent, onto the cool wooden floor, walking slowly over to the row of shoes neatly lined up in their pairs along the skirting board. When they reach them, Jeff looks back over his shoulder toward Kurt's sleeping form, tucked up under the sheets, while Nick reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small plastic bag.

"You're definitely doing this?" Jeff whispers, his eyes fixed on Kurt.

Nick nods, ripping open the bag and dumping the contents out into one of Kurt's white Doc Martens. He moves along the line of shoes, pulling out bag after bag and pouring them into each and every one of Kurt's vast array of footwear. He reaches the end of the line, stuffing the empty plastic bags into his back pocket as he stands up, and then moves toward the wardrobe.

Jeff follows him, still glancing back at Kurt every so often, and he watches as Nick pulls the wardrobe door open as slowly and quietly as he can. Nick brings another bag out of his pocket, biting it open and splitting it between the pockets of Kurt's blazer. He's about to move on to the next jacket when Jeff stops him.

"Inside pockets," he whispers, his grin practically audible.

"You've changed your tune... you were against this earlier..." Nick whispers back, turning to look at him with a smile.

"Well... if you're doing this, you've got to do it right."

Nick laughs softly, opening another bag and pouring it into the inside pocket of the blazer, then pulling the blazer forward, trying hard not to smash the coathangers together and wake up Kurt. He pulls yet another bag from his hoodie pocket, and does the same to the next jacket, filling the pockets.

"How many did you _buy_ Nicky? The whole store's worth?"

"Pretty much,"

Nick's just finished the third jacket and is moving onto the fourth when there's a knock on the door, and Kurt stirs in his bed. The boys look at each other, frozen in panic for a moment before Jeff gives Nick and shove and they climb into the wardrobe and pull the door almost shut behind them.

They scrabble to get into a comfortable position, pressed against each other and tangled in Kurt's clothes, both trying to look out of wardrobe at the same time. As they watch, the bedroom door opens slightly and a figure slips in and walks over to the bed to shake Kurt gently.

"Blaine?"

"Blaine?" Jeff mouths to Nick.

Nick looks at him wide eyed, then peeps back out into the room in time to see Blaine climb into bed with Kurt. He almost jumps as Jeff whispers into his ear.

"We could be here for _hours_ now..."

Nick covers his mouth to stop himself from laughing, turning away from the door to look up slightly at Jeff.

"Let's finish what we started..." Nick whispers, moving past Jeff and reaching blindly out into Kurt's clothes, feeling for the pockets and filling them carefully until all but one of the bags of sequins are used up.

"Done?" Jeff asks, glancing over at him before returning to look out of the door.

"Yup."

"Well they're not..." Jeff nods towards Kurt and Blaine, not taking his eyes off them.

"You're such a voyeur..." Nick grins.

"You love it." Jeff replies, laughing quietly.

Nick slips back over beside Jeff, sliding down the side of the wardrobe until he's sitting amongst the hat boxes resting on the floor. They stay like that for what feels like forever, but can't be more half an hour, their hands flying up to block their ears in complete synchronicity when Kurt and Blaine start moaning.

After a little longer, Jeff nudges Nick's shoulder with the side of his leg and Nick looks up at him.

"I have a plan."

* * *

><p>Blaine smiles, leaning in to kiss Kurt once more, but Kurt stops him, pushing him back with his hand on Blaine's chest.<p>

"Wait... did you hear something?"

Blaine shakes his head, leaning in again. Kurt smiles, leaning up, and just as his lips brush against Blaine's, there's a bang and the wardrobe doors fly open.

Jeff and Nick burst out of the wardrobe, their hoods pulled up to cover as much of their faces as possible.

"SURPRISE ATTACK!"

Kurt squeaks in shock, pulling the sheets up over him and Blaine as Nick and Jeff both reach into their pockets and fling handfuls sequins across the two boys in the bed. Jeff throws a second handful over them as Nick runs to the door, holding it open for Jeff before chasing after him down the corridor.

Somewhere between Kurt's room and Nick's, Nick loses track of Jeff, spinning on the spot in the dark hallway, searching for him. Jeff, however, is nowhere to be seen, and Nick figures he's probably heading back to his own room, and does likewise.

* * *

><p>The next morning, the Warblers are dotted around the practice room, Wes, David and Thad in their usual places behind the desk, Trent with his head down over a book, only glancing up occasionally at Blaine. Blaine's shifting uncomfortably on the sofa, the leather squeaking beneath him. Nick and Jeff lift up their comics to cover their faces in unison.<p>

"Reckon he still has some sequins stuck to him somewhere?" Jeff asks quietly, grinning.

Nick snorts into his comic, Wes looking over at him with concern. Nick waves, smiling sweetly, before turning to glare at Jeff.

"Shut up, they'll know it was us..."

They're still giggling behind the paper wall they've created when Kurt slams the door open. He's not dressed, in only his grey pyjamas, his hair still a little mussed from sleep. He marches up to the desk, his blazer slung over his shoulder. The room is completely silent, everyone staring at him in shock, Nick covering his hand with his mouth to hide his smile, Jeff concentrating hard on his hands where they're folded in his lap.

"Who did it?" Kurt asks, his voice low, the anger evident in it.

"Who did what, Warbler Kurt?" David replies, leaning forward across the desk slightly.

Kurt lifts the blazer, tipping it upside down as he does so. Hundreds of tiny golden stars spill out of the pockets, scattering over the smooth wooden surface as they land, some topple down onto the floor and across Kurt's bare feet.

"Who. Did. It?" Kurt asks again, louder this time.

Nick stands, tugging his blazer down so it's flat across his torso. All heads turn to him.

"Don't do it Nicky..." Jeff whispers, almost to himself.

Nick clears his throat.

"Maybe it was Rachel Berry. I hear gold stars are... kinda her thing."

Blaine snickers, and in the brief time it takes Kurt to turn and stare it him, Jeff and Nick are both sneaking behind him and out of the doors.

"I'll get you, Duval! They're in EVERYTHING!" Kurt yells after them, laughing as Jeff and Nick disappear around the corner screaming in mock fear;

"Run away! RUN AWAY!"


	16. Chapter 16

**I just wanted to say thank you. So much. Please don't kill me when you get to the end of this. Tomorrow's is the last chapter, I'm working on another one but... yeah. Please don't kill me.**

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><p>"Hello there, and welcome to Stirring with Sterling, the new cooking show for all you hip, young, boys about town. And girls of course, I'm not leaving you out but this <em>is<em> a boys' school... and there are none of you here!"

Nick laughs, leaning on the counter of the kitchen island they'd spread all their stuff out across. Jeff's dancing about on the other side, twirling a wooden spoon rapidly between his fingers, the chef's hat he'd procured from somewhere perched on his blond hair at what Nick assumes Jeff thinks is a jaunty angle.

"Today, dear viewers, we will be making, or rather, my lovely assistant Nickita will –"

"Why am I Russian?"

"Shh, Nickita, you are also a mute... Anyway, as I was saying, my lovely assistant Nickita will be making a delicious gavel jelly."

Nick grins, breaking up the jelly and dumping it into a mixing bowl, letting Jeff's chatter wash over him as he mixes the lumps of raw jelly with hot water until they dissolve. He'd had to let Kurt in on this one to get hold of the kitchen key and make sure that no one would come in while they were busy. Nick'd had to promise to get rid of every last sequin in Kurt's room, as well as let Kurt give him a makeover. Kurt'd called it a 'skin care lesson' but the sly grin on his face had told Nick all he needed to know.

"Next step, kiddiewinks, is for our lovely assistant to fetch the jelly that we made earlier from the fridge. Off you go Nikita..." Jeff laughs, lounging back against the worktop as Nick goes to get the half full bowl of jelly.

"Are you going to do _any_ of this yourself, Jeff the Chef?" Nick asks, placing the jelly on the counter and prodding it gently to make sure it's set properly.

"Not a thing." Jeff beams at him, before launching back into his spiel. "When you've got your lovely set jelly, get your lovely...set... assistant... to place the gavel of your choice gently onto the top."

"Lovely set assistant?" Nick laughs, grabbing Wes' gavel from his bag and putting it carefully into the bowl on top of the jelly, before pouring the rest of the jelly mix over it and carrying it back to the fridge. When he turns back to face Jeff, Jeff's biting down on the left over jelly, trying to tear a piece off with his teeth. He manages to pull a chunk off, grinning triumphantly to himself before looking up and seeing Nick laughing. Jeff pushes the jelly into his mouth guiltily and places the packet on the counter.

"Sorry" Jeff mumbles around his mouthful.

Nick shrugs, using one of the kitchen knives to cut a piece for himself, chewing it as he jumps up onto the worktop opposite Jeff. They sit in comfortable silence, each of them wishing they'd not taken such big pieces of jelly, but neither wanting to be beaten by it.

"Do you remember when we were pirates, Nicky?"

Nick smiles.

"Vaguely... something about polar bears?"

"Magic ones. They ate the crew except us." Jeff nods. "You were an excellent first mate."

Nick laughs, "and do you remember when we were superheroes?"

"and when you were Harry Potter, and I was Draco Malfoy."

"and when I was Aladdin and you were my Genie."

Nick and Jeff sit and chat for a while, reminiscing happily about past adventures. Nick's halfway through recounting the time they'd been Ghostbusters when he notices the time.

"Christ! I'm gonna be late for French!"

He slips down off the counter, rapidly gathering all his possessions from around the room and shoving them into his bag.

"Don't know why you bother going, Monsieur Duval, your French is impeccable..."

"I need the attendance record... Can you do me a favour and clear this up?" Nick calls, running out of the room, his bag swinging madly behind him.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Nick and Kurt slip into the kitchens. Nick glances at his watch. They've got ten minutes to get the jelly into the draw of the desk where Wes normally keeps his gavel. Nick brings the bowl out of the fridge, placing the plate Kurt hands him on the top of it, before flipping it over and easing it off the jelly.<p>

Kurt laughs, dropping down to look closer at the gavel where it's suspended in the orange jelly, nudging the plate to make it wobble.

"Thanks for helping, Kurt," Nick calls over from the sink where he's washing up the bowl. Kurt comes over to join him, holding a teatowel.

"You should thank me for clearing up after you yesterday, this room was a mess when I came in here to check you'd finished." Kurt says, smiling as he takes the bowl from Nick's hands, drying it as he walks over to the cupboard where it's kept before putting it away.

"But I..." Nick pauses. He hasn't seen Jeff since he went to French yesterday, and he'd only briefly looked for him before going to get Kurt to let him into the kitchen this morning. "Sorry... I meant to come back and clean up." Where had Jeff gone to?

Kurt checks his watch, and then picks up his and Nick's bags, shouldering them both.

"Five minutes, we better get a move on."

Nick gets the jelly, carrying it carefully out of the kitchen and into the practice room down the hall. They manage to manoeuvre it into the draw without damaging it, and are sitting chatting on one of the sofas as the rest of the Warblers slowly fill the room. Nick keeps an eye out for Jeff, looking up as each person enters, but there's no sign of him at all.

Nick and Kurt are almost bouncing in their seats as Wes sits down behind his desk. He pulls the draw open slightly, and then slams it shut again.

"What is that?"

"What's what, Wes?" Kurt asks, smiling innocently.

Wes opens the draw fully and brings out the jelly-encased gavel, placing it on the table. Nick can't help it, bursting into laughter as soon as the plate touches the wood, the rest of the room following suit.

"Who put my gavel in jelly? I told you last time, it's very bad for the finish!" Wes yells above the noise, his hand hovering over the gavel before plunging in to grab it, chunks of jelly flying through the air and across the table.

David pushes Wes away as he attempts to wipe the jelly off onto his blazer, Thad busying himself with brushing the orange goo off his lapels. Kurt laughs, nudging Nick and grinning before standing up and taking Blaine's hand in his.

"Remember, every sequin gone." Kurt smiles and Blaine waves goodbye as he's dragged off into the corridor.

"Warbler Nick, a word." Wes calls, still picking orange from the handle of his gavel.

Nick sighs, pushing himself up off the sofa and heading over to the desk, leaning his hands on it and waiting. Wes opens his mouth as if he's about to start yelling, but David stops him.

"Much as we appreciate your sense of humour, Nick, you need to tone it down. These pranks are going to get out of hand, and someone's going to get hurt."

Nick rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Sorry guys... I just... they're really good fun" Nick says, struggling to keep a straight face as Thad smears jelly down the back of Wes' coat.

"We know, and we agree, but tone it down a little. We also know that you had help with this one, but Kurt was punished enough with the uh... sequins." Wes says, smiling at Nick.

"Actually, I had help with all of them, which reminds me, have you seen Jeff at all? I've not seen him since yesterday afternoon."

Wes and David look at each other in confusion, Thad looking up at Nick with a frown on his face.

"Jeff?"

"Yeah... Jeff."

"Um... No, we haven't seen him..." Thad says, glancing over at Wes and David, concern flicking across his face.

Nick looks between the three of them.

"What? Why are you looking like that?"

"Nick... maybe you should go upstairs for a bit... go to bed... ok?"

Nick raises his eyebrows in surprise, before picking his bag up and heading out of the room, almost sliding on a smudge of jelly that had ended up on the floor. Wes waits, leaning forward across the desk to make sure Nick's completely out of the room before turning to Thad and David.

"Who's Jeff?"


	17. Chapter 17

Nick climbs the stairs up to the bedrooms slowly, thinking to himself. He's thinking about what prank he could pull next, and whether he should actually take the Warbler Council's advice and tone them down a little. He's thinking about where he could maybe get a cow, because he's heard that they can't go down stairs, only up, and would it really be that hard to get a cow up the flight of steps he's currently climbing? He's thinking about what Kurt and Blaine could possibly be doing to be making that noise. He's thinking about Jeff.

He unlocks his bedroom door and pushes it open, dumping his bag on the floor next to his desk and taking off his blazer and tie, hanging them over the back of his chair. There's a cough from behind him and he spins round to see Jeff sitting cross-legged on the bed, his pink converse resting on the floor next to the bedside cabinet.

"Jeff! Where were you, I've been... why aren't you in uniform?"

Jeff looks down at his pink t shirt and jeans, playing with the frayed fabric at the edge of the rip across his left knee. He stays silent, and it's a little while before he meets Nick's gaze.

"I have to go."

"No."

Jeff frowns as Nick walks toward him, jumping up over the bedstead and landing opposite him on the bed.

"Why do you have to? Why do you have to go? You don't HAVE to go."

"Yes, Nicky, I do."

"I won't let you."

Jeff opens his mouth to speak, then stops himself, studying Nick's face for a moment. He looks... angry. Angry and upset and although Jeff knows that he has to do it, it doesn't make him happy.

"Nicky, let me tell you something, and you have to let me finish, ok?"

"Are you gay? Is that why you're leaving? That's stupid, you know no one would ever – "

"No! I'm not... Nicky, please just let me talk."

Nick nods, watching Jeff curiously. He's sure that whatever reason Jeff has for leaving, he can change his mind.

"Nicky... I'm not real."

Nick's eyes widen. He wasn't expecting that.

"That's stupid, you're sitting right there."

"You made me up."

There's a long silence before Jeff speaks again.

"I've never... Nicky, remember when you were small, and you were shorter than everyone, and even though _you_ knew you were good at things, no one else would ever have believed in you except your parents? Remember how alone you were? You needed a friend, and so... you made one."

Nick's staring at him in disbelief, shaking his head.

"No. That's stupid, how can you... I can't have an imaginary friend, I'm SEVENTEEN."

"Nicky will you just LET ME SPEAK!" Jeff almost yells, his voice cracking, rubbing his hand roughly across his eyes.

"I was... your best friend, I was everything you ever needed me to be. I was that one person who told you you were the best at the things you tried to do to. When you needed someone to be there with you, I was holding your hand. You were lonely at school, and I was there, and then, when you made friends, you didn't need me any more so I left. I came back when you needed someone to give you the confidence to kiss a girl, or when you just needed someone to pass the time with. I was always there. Then, when you moved to Dalton, you lost everyone, you didn't know a single person here and so there I was. There _we_ were, Nicky and JJ, pranking people left, right, and centre... No one ever knew I was there, Nicky. You did this all by yourself."

There are tears streaming down Nick's face, but he doesn't think he can move to wipe them away. He's just staring at Jeff. He can barely open his mouth to whisper, his voice hoarse, throat hurting from the sobs he's been holding back.

"But..." is all he can manage before bursting into huge, gut wrenching sobs. He feels like everything he's ever known has been ripped away from him. Jeff's arms are around him, somehow, cradling him against his chest, his head resting against Nick's.

"You don't need me anymore, Nicky."

Nick lifts his head, looking at Jeff, whose face is now as streaked with tears as his own.

"I'll always need you."

Jeff smiles, shaking his head.

"No, you don't. You've got Kurt, and Blaine, and Thad, and Wes and David, you've got so many friends here Nicky. You haven't seen me since yesterday afternoon because you've been with your real friends. You've barely thought about me."

Nick's shaking his head in protest. He _has_ been thinking about Jeff. Well... maybe not as much as he used to.

"JJ, please. I don't want you to go, how can I make you not go?" Nick's voice is wobbling, he's verging on pleading with Jeff, wrapping his arms around him as if he can hold him there.

"I need to, Nicky. If I don't go, you'll never..." Jeff breaks off, sobbing once before restraining himself. "If I don't go now, you'll never have a real best friend." He laughs softly, "One that other people can see."

Nick shakes his head again, his face pressed against Jeff's neck.

"I don't want one. I just want you to say you'll stay."

"Nicky..."

"Please. Don't leave."

"I'm not leaving you."

"You'll stay with me?"

"Until the very end."

Nick pulls back, looking at Jeff for a moment before laughing.

"Did you just... quote Harry Potter?"

"I might have done."

"Idiot." Nick shoves him gently. "You're not staying, are you?"

Jeff shakes his head. "No."

Nick flops back against the pillows, Jeff following, lying next to him, both of them staring up at the ceiling. Nick slips his hand into Jeff's, his fingers warm as they intertwine with Nick's.

"I don't understand... you _feel_ real."

"It's all in your head Nicky, but that doesn't mean it can't –"

"Don't quote Harry potter again." Nick says, laughing as he turns his head to look at Jeff. Jeff grins back at him, and for a few seconds they study each other before Nick's bottom lip starts to wobble, and he begins to cry once more.

"Nicky... no... please don't cry." Jeff moves closer, pulling Nick into his arms again. "I always protected you from the monsters, but you can do it yourself now. You've always been doing it yourself, really."

Nick doesn't reply, just shifts nearer to Jeff, his arms tightening around Jeff's body. They lie like they did when they were kids, a tangle of limbs, Nick's legs thrown over Jeff's, Jeff's hair sticking up at the back where he's been resting against the pillow, Nick's hand finding Jeff's and holding it tight. Nick's sobs quieten gradually, Jeff stroking his hair, comforting him as best as he can.

Nick's just drifting off to sleep when he hears the whisper, this tiny, disembodied voice of a friend he had when he was a child.

"You don't need to be invisible anymore, Nicky," JJ whispers, "Promise me you won't be."

Nick nods sleepily, his eyes closing.

When he wakes up, he's alone. Jeff's gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh god, you all hate me now.<strong>

**Feel free to spam my tumblr inbox/twitter with questions and flailing, I LOVE IT, also reviews are the best.**

**I'm writing another multi chap Neff (shorter though) which should start being updated in a week or so, maybe less, so THANK YOU for reading this, and I hope you'll stick with me for that one **

**Laura x **


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